The new Yad Vashem site, at www.yadvashem.org, is termed a “historic” central database of Shoah [Holocaust] Victims, and contains some three million names. It is an attempt to reconstruct the names, and some of the life stories, of all the Jews who perished in the Nazi Holocaust.
“We are reaching a crucial historical hour,” said Chairman of the Yad Vashem Directorate Avner Shalev. “This is a race against time. We must record as many names as possible before the generation that best remembers them is no longer with us. We call on families around the globe to help honor the memories of their ancestors by recording their names. The availability of the Database to everyone everywhere, through the internet, is critical to the effort to collect more names.”
The sophisticated technology allows users worldwide to access a treasure trove of millions of personal and historical documents archived in 14 languages using cutting-edge web search systems. Through interactive features, users can perform comprehensive searches, submit information, and take part in educational programs.
Much of the information is based on “Pages of Testimony” that Yad Vashem has been collecting from survivors for nearly 50 years. The pages include basic information on known victims, including name, date and place of birth, place of residence before the war, profession, parents’ and spouses’ names, and where and when they perished during the Holocaust.
The second website is that of Israel Academia Monitor, at (http://israel-academia-monitor.com). This an Israeli watchdog group monitoring abuses of academic freedom and politicization of Israeli campuses by extremists and radicals. The organization says it is modeled in part on the highly successful “Campus Watch” organization, a project of Dr. Daniel Pipes’ Middle East Forum in the United States.
“Israeli academic institutions have been misused in recent years as platforms for radical anti-Israel and even anti-Semitic propagandizing,” a press release for the new organization declares, “often by tenured radicals with embarrassing academic records and dubious research credentials.” The group aims to “bring to light statements and articles written by and about the academic extremists and university anti-Zionists. It is our purpose to expose the activities and statements of Israel’s academic extremists. We encourage students, scholars, and others to submit to us materials, and we will post and publish those that are appropriate and relevant.”